(Img. 1 - Leeds City Museum.)
This project I set out to take photos of the taxidermied animals in Leeds City Museum and also Leeds Discovery Centre with my Scanner camera.
The re-animation of animals through the taxidermic process has always fascinated me. The importance of retaining lifelike forms of animals for further generations to study will gradually become of more importance as ice caps melt, urbanization and deforestation take place which will certainly affect already endangered wildlife.
My photographic studies of taxidermy illustrate the rather peculiar art. The animals are given an identity by the taxidermist, and this superimposed character is what I wanted to capture with the set.
I think that the glass boxes help me to remove myself from the animal and its life-like pose removes me from its death. Museums are nothing more than cheap to run Zoos the animals don't need to be fed, watered, cleaned out they just stay in their mock up habitats with a bunch more out of context animals. This however isn't a bad thing I thrive off of these animals, frozen in time. Always there ready to be seen with their claws out. There's something reassuring about being able to re-visit and see your favourite animal en captured and posed like the beast it once was.
(Img. 2 - Dead pigeon found murdered a street away)
These photos (Img. 2) taken on 35mm film have made me realise what I like about Taxidermy as opposed to just dead animals like these. Even though there is a bit of peace... The decomposing of the corpse is disturbing. Taxidermyed animals have such a grand/majestic quality about them. Making them powerful creatures rather than fragile. (I didn't kill it by the way.)
As a person I don't think I form human relationships well enough to understand peoples relationships with animals. But what I like about taxidermy is the ability to be stood a foot away from some of the most powerful animals in the world.
Like a child with their face pressed up against the glass, I too enjoy them with the same wonderment. I think that the process that I have taken to come to the final photographs gives them an ethereal feel.
*Ethereal- Word that I just had to put in at 2am before the deadline in a sleep deprived moment of madness.
(Img.3 - Illustration from first year.)
I think this is the most important set of images that I produced this year. Important to me because I feel that I have been on a journey with the photographs. I worked in first year with illustrations of animals (Img. 3). This did not go well. However I think its interesting that I've somehow revisited them again, without really thinking about it. Making this constant dialogue between me and my subject (Animals in general), has helped me form a relationship with it I think. I am gradually seeing what I can work with and what inspires me about them to use them in my work.
Going back to my original brief I think I achieved what I set out to do after the Christmas period. I got out of the house. Out of my comfort zone. I had to have negotiations with people from outside of university and also later I'll describe how I used the photos to collaborate with fellow students.
(Img. 4 - Simone Bergantini)
Simone Bergantini (Img. 4) has been of particular interest to me recently I found his work through Foam Magazine's website as one of the winners of the Talent call last year. His dark portraits of foxes,monkeys and people remind me of my own work from this year. They have similar rustic qualities and, the shallow depth of field allows for a lot of further thinking into the imagery. It doesn't reveal too much in one heavy burst.
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